Lamentations 3:22-24 teaches that the steady love and compassion of the LORD are the reason people in suffering have not been completely destroyed, and that those mercies are renewed every morning. The passage moves from grief to hope by pointing the sufferer to God’s faithfulness as their portion and their reason to keep waiting for him.
These verses sit in the middle of the book of Lamentations, a collection of five poems mourning the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC and the ruin that followed. The poet speaks in the first person, and in this chapter he seems to speak for the whole suffering community, which gives the hope here a communal as well as personal weight.
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24 (WEB)
Lamentations 3:22-24 Summary
The passage begins with a claim that surprises after the chapter’s heavy opening: the people are still alive, and this survival is owed to the LORD’s loving kindnesses and compassion, which have not run out. It then describes those mercies as fresh each morning and affirms God’s faithfulness as great. The final verse has the speaker declare that the LORD is his portion and, for that reason, he will hope in him.
The argument therefore runs from evidence to conclusion. Because God has preserved the speaker until now, and because his compassion is renewed daily, the speaker chooses hope over despair. Hope here is not a feeling that appears on its own but a decision grounded in what the speaker knows about God’s past and present faithfulness.
Context of Lamentations 3:22-24
Lamentations is traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, though the book itself does not name its author, and it was written for a people who had watched their city burned, their temple destroyed, and many of their neighbors killed or exiled. The poems are acrostics in Hebrew, arranged by the alphabet, which suggests a deliberate effort to express grief completely from A to Z. Chapter 3 is the book’s central poem, and it is unusual because its suffering speaker moves more deliberately toward hope than the other chapters do.
The verses just before this passage (Lamentations 3:19-21) name the bitterness and misery the speaker feels and admit that his soul is still bowed down. The verses just after (3:25-27) turn toward patient waiting, calling it good to wait quietly for the LORD’s salvation. So verses 22-24 function as the hinge of the chapter, showing how memory of suffering can open the way to trust.
Lamentations 3:22-24 Verse by Verse
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(WEB)
This verse pictures God as a refuge and strength who is an ever-present help in trouble. It echoes Lamentations 3 by grounding courage in God’s nearness rather than in the circumstances of the moment.
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(WEB)
Paul lists the powers that cannot separate believers from God’s love in Christ. The passage shares the conviction that God’s love holds firm when everything else gives way.
A Prayer Based on Lamentations 3:22-24
Lord, I thank you that I am still here, and I confess that I do not always see your mercy at first. Renew your compassion for me this morning, and help me notice the new mercies you have already set in place for my day. Be my portion when other things I depended on are gone, and teach my soul to say, with honest hope, that I will wait for you. Amen.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “his compassion doesn’t fail” mean in Lamentations 3:22?
It means that God’s mercy does not run out or give way under pressure. The poet is pointing to the continued survival of his people as evidence that God’s compassion has held.
Why does Lamentations 3:23 say mercies are new every morning?
The image suggests that God’s compassion is offered afresh each day rather than used up in one event. It encourages believers to expect new mercy as the day begins.
What does it mean that the LORD is my portion?
In Old Testament usage, a portion was an inheritance. To call the LORD one’s portion means that God himself is the most valuable possession a person has, even when other things are taken away.
